Tim Henman was today seeded No 11 for the Australian Open, the first Grand Slam of the season, which gets under way in Melbourne on Monday.

The British No 1, from Oxfordshire, missed the tournament last year through injury, but has been in good form, with victory at the Paris Masters being followed by a semi-final appearance in Doha last week.

The seedings were each topped by the respective world No 1s in Andy Roddick and Justine Henin-Hardenne.

Henman is one place behind Mark Philippoussis, but four spots higher than the other leading Australian hope, former world number one Lleyton Hewitt.

Behind Roddick is Wimbledon champion Roger Federer, followed by Juan Carlos Ferrero.

Defending Australian Open champion Andre Agassi is seeded fourth and chasing a fifth title in Melbourne after his victories in 1995, 2000, 2001 and 2003.

The women's competition has been blighted by a host of big-name withdrawals, with defending champion Serena Williams and former title holder Jennifer Capriati (2001 and 2002) both out injured.

Kim Clijsters has been seeded second despite remaining a major doubt with an ankle injury.

The draw will take place in Melbourne tomorrow.

LEADING SEEDS

Men: 1 A Roddick, 2 R Federer, 3 J Carlos, Ferrero, 4 A Agassi, 5 G Coria, 6 R Schuettler, 7 C Moya, 8 D Nalbandian, 9 S Grosjean, 10 M Philippoussis, 11 T Henman; 12 Ni Massu, 13 P Srichaphan, 14 Jiri Novak, 15 L Hewitt,16 S Schalken.

Women: 1 J Henin-Hardenne, 2 K Clijsters, 3 V Williams, 4 A Mauresmo, 5 L Davenport, 6 A Myskina, 7 E Dementieva, 8 A Sugiyama.